In the spirit of Halloween, I will be only reviewing scary movies or movies directly related to the holiday (like Hocus Pocus and such). To start off, why don't I tell you about what sends shivers down my spine? You know, so some day you can use this against me if I ever manage to piss one of you off. Enjoy this minor dive into my psyche as formed by my list of the Top 12 Scariest Movies I Have Ever Seen


12) Halloween: I am sure it is no surprise that a movie about a classic cinematic slasher such as Michael Myers would end up on this list. Personally, I am putting him here because when I first became acquainted with his character, I was at an age where I was old enough to babysit. While this film does rely on the standard "dumb teenager" trope that most horror movies out of the 1970's rely on, the leading one is still smart. She is a normal teenager who spends her time studying and worries for the safety of the kids she's babysitting as much as her own. She fights back, she freaks out, and the killer is silent in his mysterious quest to kill her. Halloween does not rely on Michael Myers' ability to kill, but rather his ability to prowl, his consuming need for one character to die. This film was not the reason I gave up babysitting entirely, but it was a component in my temporary reluctance to do so while I was in high school.

11) Honeymoon: I have never been a real outdoorsy person, and this movie gave me another reason why. A newlywed couple goes on their honeymoon to the wife's family cabin in the middle of the Canadian woods. One night, the husband finds his wife in the middle of the forest after she has sleepwalked there. After said encounter, the wife starts acting not quite as her normal self, shifting deeper and deeper into a pattern of strange behavior. The movie comes mostly from the husband's point of view as he tries to figure out what happened with his wife while she tries to convince him (and maybe herself too) that she is okay. I personally find myself to be most discomforted by horror movies that are grounded into a reality I can find mostly plausible. This film is a mysterious expansion on a situation many of us have found ourselves in at some point, when we know someone close to us is unhealthy but cannot convince them to seek help. Honeymoon is not a violent depiction of a honeymoon gone sour, it is not a monster mash, it is not even a ghost story. It is a psychological thriller with an element of the unnatural. Check it out if isolation creeps you out.

10) Poltergeist: Poltergeist is one of the first horror movies my parents ever showed me and my sister, so I place fairly deep nostalgic value on it. But even without that, I think this film holds up pretty well. The family is, for the most part, realistic, and the scares are eerie with some hypnotic qualities. The ghosts attract the little girl, Carol Anne, by portraying themselves as friendly, almost playful beings, when in actuality they are vengeful. The fact that this film took the time to focus on the normalcy of the family before placing emphasis on the scares planted the idea into my head as a young child that this all could happen to me. I put it on the list today because every time I watch it, that idea sprouts once more without fail. This film scared me as a kid and it will continue to have power over me until the day I die.

9) Audition: When it comes to gore in movies, I do not consider myself squeamish. I remember watching B-zombie movies in high school with my sister on a regular basis because we just enjoyed watching the corn syrup fly in all kinds of directions (rest assured, I enjoy this because I know it's corn syrup and not based in any form of reality). Audition is one of the only movies that made me squirm. Some of you know about the final scene where the leading lady shows her true colors to the man she is in love with; this officially broke me but not for the reason you would think. I was disturbed by what the film did not show me, followed by the girlish delight she took in her conquest of pain. Villains in horror movies who take joy in violent brutality is nothing new; it is the idea that someone close to you is the villain that left me ill at ease for a while after watching this film. Dating has never been my favorite thing in the world, Audition tossed me the fuck away from it.

8) The Gift: The trailer to this movie would have one believe that it is about a stalker, but as it progresses, it reveals itself more to be a story about consequence. I remember once singing a song where the lyrics go "Before you have said it about them, ask yourself if you'd like them to know you said it". The Gift is that piece of life advice in a nutshell, making the audience take serious time to question if they have hurt anyone in their lives thus paralyzing them with the idea that they may have messed with someone they should not have. The Gift is a disconcerting film that caused me to have trouble going to sleep the night after I saw it. I suggest you take a gander at Joel Edgerton's directorial debut and see for yourself.

7) Carrie (1976): Similar to Joel Edgerton's The Gift, Carrie falls into the horror category, but is rooted in a story about consequences. Carrie (played by Sissy Spacek) is the butt of every joke in school, her peers not only ostracize her but they are disgusted by her very existence. They make this known to her in any possibly conceivable manner. Unbeknownst to them, Carrie is telekinetic, which works against them one day when they go too far. I place this movie on the list not just for the classic scene most of you reading this know about, but mostly because of the idea that you at some point might have hurt someone, someone who you paid little mind to before, and that could very well have been or one day be the wrong person to mess with.
 
6) Amityville Horror (1979): As some of you may know, any films that have to do with demonic possession tend to freak me out a tiny bit. So it is no surprise that I was unable to go into the basement of my childhood home for a good month after seeing this movie for the first time. It has been a long time since I watched this movie and I think for good reason. The film's monsters do not spend their time hunting the focal family, but rather preparing them for a slaughter. The uneasiness I felt in each scene slowly grew into terror during the climactic escape. To this day, I cannot enter a basement without have an emotional flashback to watching this movie, so it ends up here on the list.

5) Wait Until Dark: I only just saw this film for the first time recently, but I feel confident in adding it to this list. There is just something about the idea of your privacy being violated right under your nose. Worse still, the idea of someone invading your turf and then demanding you say "Please" when forcing you to allow them further invasion. Wait Until Dark takes that idea and takes it to squirm-inducing heights. 90% of this film takes place in the cramped quarters of a New York apartment, and the more our characters tumble into a web of deception or struggle, the tighter those quarters feel. There are no dramatic pauses, the dialogue is efficient, and the twists and turns come from the mind games rather than from jump scares or a big, bad monster going "Boo!". The fact that this could literally happen to a real person is just icing on the cake of this movie, which puts it on my list of scariest movies I have ever seen.

4) The Exorcism of Emily Rose: I am petrified by this film for the same reason I am by the Number 1 movie on this list; because the lead characters logically rule out every possibility that could have contributed to the title character's death. This film is about religion built in a glass house of skepticism. None of the characters throughout are entirely certain in the idea that Emily Rose was possessed by demons. Only Emily and her priest are, and the mind games that are inflicted on the leads make the audience certain that something is digging under their skin, but uncertain as to what that something is. Personally, I have always been more afraid of films that do not show the monster while making it clear that a monster of some kind is present. That is why The Exorcism of Emily Rose makes it onto the list.

3) Misery: Never has a ceramic penguin been so petrifying. This film probably qualifies more as a thriller than a horror film, but I feel the need to put it on the list anyway. Captivity in general is terrifying to just about anyone. We are animals at the core who do not want to be locked in a cage (unless it's Saturday night and you and your spouse want to finally try something new but that is a whole other story). The film starts out innocent enough where a seemingly kind woman named Annie Wilkes (played by Kathy Bates) rescues a man (played by James Caan) from a car accident in the middle of a snowstorm; the man in question just happens to be the author of her favorite book series. What gives this film the ability to make my blood run cold is the idea that we all have at least a little bit of Annie in us when we encounter our favorite celebrity. We all have the chance to lose our ability to think straight, which makes it all the less farfetched that there could be someone out there like her. It makes me grateful that I am not a celebrity and even more grateful that my only inclination when meeting some of my favorite celebrities was just to cry and ask for an autograph.

2) Psycho: Of course you all know the iconic string music that takes place during the infamous shower scene. It not only enhances the already frightening moment, but the scene itself is so classically frightening. Even if this film is not the original reason I periodically check for murderers while I am showering, it certainly burned that habit into my psyche. The build up is quiet, then the terror is deafening. And that is only one aspect of the film, I dare not spoil the rest for the two of you who have not seen it. It is unsettling in its emphasis on what every human being hides and how far they will go to conceal it, and it is because of that emphasis that I put it on this list today.



1) The Exorcist: As I said before, I personally find myself to be most discomforted by horror films that are grounded into a reality I can find somewhat plausible. Most horror movies do not work for me because few of this genre's protagonist's take a real logistical approach in figuring out why so many oddities are popping up in their lives. The Exorcist spends its first half showing the possessed child, Regan's, mother narrowing down what is going on with her daughter. She takes her to countless physicians, psychiatrists, every kind of doctor available at the time the film came out. When she finally calls in a priest, she says "That is not my daughter". Seeing her rule out every tangible, earthly possibility is disheartening, but even more so it is frightening. It is even more frightening when her desperate doubt is proven to be correct. To see smart characters in a horror movie combined with a logical take on the supernatural (a supernatural that I believe exists which probably contributes to my fear) puts The Exorcist in the Number 1 spot on my list of scariest movies I have ever seen.